A/HRC/40/CRP.1 Additionally, in February 2018, following sustained engagement, the Ministry of Defence and the SPLA leadership agreed to provide unhindered access to the United Nations and the National DDR Commission to undertake joint visits to all military barracks to screen and release children associated with the SPLA. Unfortunately, owing to limited resources, only one such mission had been undertaken by June 2018.711 Furthermore, the R-ARCSS reaffirmed the commitment in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement of 21 December 2017712 to refrain from the recruitment and use of children armed forces or militias.713 The issue of the recruitment and use of children has been on the agenda of each CTSAMVM Technical Committee meeting, with CTSAMVM investigating reports of children in the armed forces and armed groups and raising the issue with the Parties. 714 Accompanying this growing awareness and engagement with the issue of recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, there has been some progress in the release and reintegration of children associated with the armed forces and armed groups in 2018. In particular, between February and August 2018 there were three releases of children in Western Equatoria State facilitated by the National Demobilization Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) Commission, with the support of UNICEF and UNMISS. In February 2018, 311 children (224 boys and 87 girls) were released;715 in April, 207 children (112 boys and 95 girls) were released;716 and in August, 128 children (90 boys and 38 girls) were released.717 These children were primarily released from the South Sudan National Liberation Movement (SSNLM) and the SPLA-IO. A fourth release of children in Western Equatoria was planned for September but did not take place. Elsewhere in the country, 210 children (207 boys and three girls) were released in Pibor, Jonglei in May 2018.718 An additional 91 children associated with the SPLA-IO (TD) forces were reportedly identified during the integration of those forces into the SPLA (now SSPDF) in Bentiu, Unity State. At the time of writing, their demobilization was being organized.719 Overall, between January 2015 and June 2018, 2,740 children were released from the armed forces and armed groups.720 As the National DDR Commission does not have sufficient resources to meet the basic needs of released children, the United Nations and NGOs have been assisting with social reintegration and medical and mental health aspects of the reintegration. 721 As children are released, they receive medical and psychological screening, interim care, and family tracing and reunification.722 Nonetheless many challenges remain such as reintegration, extending services to hard-to-reach areas, the lack of local social and psychosocial resources (there is no social work curriculum in the country), the lack of employment opportunities and the risk of re-recruitment.723 711 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 712 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, 21 December 2017, Articles 3(2)(f), 9(1), 10(a). 713 R-ARCSS, Article 2.1.10.3. 714 CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes, No. 2, 10 October 2018; CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes, No. 3, 24 October 2018; CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes, No. 4, 7-8 November 2018; CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes, No. 5, 27-28 November 2018; CTSAMVM, Technical Committee Meeting Minutes, No. 6, 18-18 November 2018. 715 UNMISS, Press Release: UNMISS Welcomes Release of Hundreds of Former Child Soldiers in Yambio, 7 February 2018; UNICEF, Press Release: Hundreds of children released by armed groups in South Sudan, 7 February 2018. 716 UNICEF, Press Release: Hundreds of children released from armed groups in South Sudan, 18 April 2018. 717 UNICEF, Press Release: More children released from South Sudanese armed groups, 7 August 2018. 718 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on South Sudan (covering the period from 17 February to 3 June 2018), S/2018/609, 14 June 2018. 719 CTSAMVM, Report (No.1) to RJMEC Plenary, Addis Ababa, 19 November 2018. 720 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 721 Confidential Meeting, Juba, 29 October 2018. 722 Confidential Meeting, Juba, 29 October 2018; UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in South Sudan, 25 September 2018, S/2018/865. 723 Confidential Meeting, Juba, 4 September 2018. 101